1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly comprising a molded article, in particular a motor vehicle cushion, at least two elements having hooks overmolded in the molded article, and a cover that covers the molded article at least in part, the cover being fastened to the molded article via a self-fastener or “touch fastener” device of the hook-and-loop type or of the hook-in-hook type, hooks stemming from the overmolded elements having hooks and co-operating with loops or hooks stemming from the cover to achieve the fastening.
2. Description of Related Art
Document US 2003/0162008 discloses an assembly comprising a molded article having an outside surface and a cover that covers the outside surface, a groove or trench being formed in the molded article while having two opposite side faces meeting to form a trench bottom, an overmolded element having two catches being placed at the bottom of the trench and a wire secured to the cover being inserted in the trench and co-operating by abutment or clipping with the respective catches to hold the cover around the molded article.
That type of assembly is complicated to manufacture, in particular for suitably positioning the catches proud from the side walls of the trench, and the resulting fastening is not as reliable as the fastening obtained by fastening using a hook-and-loop self-fastener. In addition, once the wire has been clipped between the catches, it is very difficult, or indeed impossible, to unfasten it without damaging the cover.
In the prior art, assemblies comprising a molded article and a cover are known in which the molded article is provided with a groove or with a trench formed in its outside surface and having two side faces that meet at a bottom, from which hooks project and co-operate with loops stemming from the cover. Such assemblies including a hook-and-loop system for fastening the cover are more reliable than those described in US 2003/0162008 but they are also most costly and, in particular, it is necessary to cover substantially the entire bottom with hooks in order to make the fastening sufficiently resistant to pull-out forces. In particular, the hooks are part of elements having hooks that are placed at the bottom of the trench, the elements having hooks being aligned continuously, i.e. end-to-end, thereby making the assembly costly to manufacture, because said elements having hooks are very costly.
In a first aspect, an object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by proposing an assembly made up of a molded article and of a cover that, although it has hook-and-loop fastening (making it very simple to fit the cover around the molded article and, in particular, making it possible to unfasten the fastening and to refasten it if necessary, e.g. with a view to repositioning the cover), is less costly to manufacture, without however losing its reliability and its pull-out strength that are imparted by using a hook-and-loop self-fastener for fastening the cover.